Trans HeartLine

UPDATE: (5/30/20) As surgeons begin to schedule surgeries once again, we are still relying on the medical community as our guidelines to follow for post-op care. Currently, hospitals are not allowing any caregivers into the hospital. We will following these measures and advice of your surgeons closely and will keep this site updated weekly.

We are currently also following the limiting of caregiver practice here as well. Jordan Decker has been through surgery and will be sheltering in place with all of the occupants as their personal assistant, during these difficult times. For our safety and continuity of care, the THL volunteers will continue to provide assistance to Jordan from outside the house. This includes grocery runs for the house, prepared meals for those who need meal assistance, airport pick/drop off.

Jordan will be taking you to your post-op appointments. As this is a community healing house, we will all be helping each other to heal as we will be in various timelines of healing while at the house!

Your safety and healing is our number one priority!

Please call Jordan Decker directly should you have any questions. 530-386-3847

Remember good hand washing, social awareness and limited travel are all good measures for slowing the transmission of this virus.

In other news, we have been nominated for the TDOV awardsWatch our video below.

MISSION STATEMENT

Trans HeartLine builds bridges between Faith, Spirituality, and Gender through safe post-op housing and community education. Trans HeartLine is a 501(3)c nonprofit. We have created safe, affordable, post-op housing in the Bay Area. We are focused on creating a healing environment in which Gender confirmation surgery clients can focus on healing and not survival. Recovering in a safe environment contributes to faster healing with fewer complications. We are educating and advocating in the Faith communities and beyond by having the hard conversations about what it means to be transgender and the challenges we face.

How We Got Started

I had Gender Confirmation surgery in 2016. After living in the area and then moving away, the cost of coming back for surgery almost prevented the surgery itself. I had some minor complications and stayed 2 extra weeks. With housing, food, medical supplies and the cost of my own caretaker for 6 weeks, the cost was over 10k just for recovery. Not covered by insurance. I saw a need and I am filling it with a compassionate setting for others recovering from Gender Confirmation Surgery.

We have a particular path on this journey called life. We shouldn’t have to struggle because a “system” doesn’t understand. We should just love one another right where we are.

In the Spirit of sharing, I had the idea of sharing my home to help others in March of 2016. After a year long recovery journey, in November of 2017, we gathered 15 folks together to talk about making this idea, a reality. We had area doctors, nurses, attorneys, allied health care workers, Faith leaders and more gathered on November 20, TDOR (Transgender Day of Remembrance) to begin the tides of change.

I was privileged enough to have insurance that covered the largest part of my surgical procedures. It also provided me with 100 home health visits. My spouse called 24 different agencies in the area and not ONE of them said they knew how to treat my wounds! Because of this, we are taking this next year to work closely with others to develop and provide wrap-around care services as well. UPDATE: January 2020, we have a host of volunteers that have been trained in Trans Competency. We have volunteers for transportation, volunteers feeding all that need food. volunteers providing personal assistance in some cases!)

At Trans HeartLine we are making the “Word flesh” by becoming the “hands and feet” in the world. Many of us come from broken families that reject us because of THIER Faith. ALL are welcome at Trans HeartLine!

My own journey was painful and full of me “going to Hell”. We are now out in the community having the hard conversations about trans topics from Youth suicide rates (57% attempts) to Gender Confirmation surgery, to Spiritual abuse, Trauma and the affects particular to Transgender folks.

Everyone deserves to live life authentically. The system isn’t set up for the margins. With your generous donations, we are helping the margins by creating a healing environment, so we can embody our authentic self and re-activate back into society wholly us. Thank you for considering the gift of life, as we walk our journey into authenticity.

When Jordan met Jane A Spahr (Janie), magic happened! We are partnering with the University of Redlands after they purchased San Francisco Theological School this past summer. Their commitment to social justice and the LGBT community continues to shine, with their support of Trans HartLine!

House Vibe

Inside the house we are a community healing together. We help each other out where we can. We support each other where we can. We love each other always! The outside world can be tough. We love everyone on their journey to wholeness.

Our volunteers have been trained to take new ladies in the house out shopping and holding space in restrooms and dressing rooms. Our volunteers range from young adults to great grand mothers in the church down the street!

We collaborate with the University of Redlands and their Shaw Chaplaincy Program. This journey can be difficult when we go back home and continue to deal with complications or just the exhaustion of multiple surgeries. We have a safe support system to hold us along this surgical journey. Chaplains are trained to hold space in times of trauma. No particular push of ideology, just calm strong support for us in the hard emotional hard times. These surgeries are traumatic events in our lives! It is amazing to have a listening ear when we need to be held in the struggle to get through this part of our transition.

In this coming year, we will have professionals in place from the start of our journey needing a letter for our hormones or any surgery. We want you to pick up the phone and get a friendly voice on the other end, the first call!